The road to World Cup 2014 begins on Friday night and there are 22 qualifying matches taking place across Europe.
It’s still nearly two years until Brazil hosts the finals but all involved will be looking for a fast start and England should achieve one in Moldova with the minimum of fuss.
Also drawn alongside Poland, Montenegro, San Marino and Ukraine, the Three Lions actually have a terrific record in recent years in the preliminary rounds and I expect them to top their section in style.
While Roy Hodgson’s team are seemingly miles off winning a major tournament, that’s not what we are dealing with here and England’s run of overall excellent results now sees them up to third in the current FIFA rankings.
That assessment of their ability is open to ridicule but 22 wins in their previous 26 World Cup qualifiers, losing just twice, is as good as it gets and England should not be troubled by opponents as feeble as Moldova.
Just 1.30 shots to start their campaign with a win, England should be backed at a shade under even money to do so while keeping a clean sheet and it is hard to imagine them conceding a goal.
With John Terry and Joleon Lescott or Gary Cahill shielding the excellent Joe Hart in goal, England should not be overstretched to shut out a team that has failed to score in its last five matches against Georgia, Belarus, Venezuela, El Salvador or Albania and the selection looks excellent value.
If there is an area of concern for Hodgson it will be in attack where Wayne Rooney and Andy Carroll are both absent through injury but strikers Danny Welbeck and Jermain Defoe have more than enough about them to find a breakthrough and this clash should be fairly one-sided.
Friday’s visitors have been all the rage in this market over the past 48 hours and it is easy to see why.
3pts Back England To Win To Nil (vs. Moldova) @ 1.91 (various)